


Dear Replacement

by Beetlebabe



Series: Steph as Robin [1]
Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-19
Updated: 2011-03-19
Packaged: 2017-10-17 02:53:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/172144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beetlebabe/pseuds/Beetlebabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie is the third Robin, and Jason has just come back to Gotham after his resurrection. How will their first meeting pan out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dear Replacement

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in an AU that's similar to the World Without Young Justice universe where Steph became Robin instead of Tim. So instead of confronting Tim after he comes back to life, Jason is confronting Stephanie....

When Jason stepped out of the shadows of the alley to face the new Robin, he'd expected a fight. He expected a blur of red and yellow and green, the groan of muscles, the tight, controlled scowl of a person trained to mimic Batman's classic look of disappointment.

He hadn't been expecting her.

"You're alive!" Robin broke out in a smile so wide, so genuine that Jason could feel his resolve slipping. His chance to beat Robin to the ground began to fall apart the moment she reached her hand up, tentative, and took a slow, cautious step forward. He didn't move. If she walked too fast, if she feinted, all bets were off.

"May I?" she asked. "It's just, sometimes you show up in things like fear gas. Or holograms. You can never be sure--" she gasped as Jason's hand darted out, pulling her towards him. Her hand hit his chest so hard he almost started back. Then he tossed her off, like she was something too scalding to hold for long.

Robin rubbed her wrist, looking at Jason with the most curious expression.

"I'm real enough," he said. His voice sounded thick, unlike himself. Like he was trying to fool someone into thinking he was cruel, and failing. He cleared his throat. "You're my replacement."

"Not really," said Robin. "I don't think that's possible." Her smile returned, a little warier this time. "But now you're back, so you'll be wanting to be Robin again, right? We can always both be Robin, I guess. We could alternate on different nights. And you'd need to change your costume. Not that the scaly panties aren't sentimentally important or anything, but they probably won't fit you these d--"

Jason figured the only way to get her to stop talking was to clamp a hand over her mouth. Robin glared and shifted--Jason knew she was flipping him on his back a second before she grabbed his arm to do it. He twisted, turned her arm about just enough for it to hurt. She glared up at his grinning face.

"I don't like to be interrupted," she said.

"Point taken. I don't like to be talked at."

"Shame."

Jason smiled wider and let her go. Robin sighed. Once again, a chance had slipped Jason by. He was starting to like the girl, strangely enough. She reminded him a little of how he used to be, as Robin. Just a little less... dashing, probably. More likely to go easy on the puns.

"So," she said, crossing her arms in a way that vaguely made Jason think of Talia. He had to try to keep his mocking grin steady. "Are you going to come back with me to the manor, or what?" She raised an eyebrow when he tensed. "The right answer is yes, by the way."

"I don't think I'm welcome there," Jason said. A little of his old distaste crept back; a comfortable warmth against the disconcerting ease with which the new Robin seemed to accept him. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Fuck that," she said. "He adopted me, too, and I'm welcoming you. Come on, I have a seat on my bike."

Jason was sure he'd lost his resolve entirely. He'd purposely intercepted Robin for the sole sake of proving he was more worthy of the title--and now he was accepting a ride on her bike without question? It was probably Talia and Bruce's influence--he couldn't resist a commanding voice at the best of times. He walked with her to her bike and didn't bother to hide his distaste.

Robin looked at him. "What?"

"It's purple."

"Eggplant," she corrected. "It's classy. Hop on, boy wonder."

It wasn't an insult--more like a term of endearment. Jason wondered if she called Dick the same. Probably came up with another nickname, since she only knew him as Nightwing. He sat on the backseat of Robin's bike and held onto her waist.

Robin talked as she drove, but her voice was muffled under the roar of her bike. All Jason caught were snippets, bits and pieces: She was a poor kid, like him. Her dad was some low level crook--her mom--he couldn't be sure. Probably dead. She said she'd shoved pills in her dad's mouth, enough to kill him, though she didn't intend for that result. She'd lived on the street for weeks, tracking him down. Bruce had been impressed--of course he was. Still, the girl was violent, dangerous--wasn't she? Or she had been, before Bruce started training her as Robin. Now, sitting behind her on her bike, she sounded just like an ordinary teenage girl.

Well, an ordinary teenage girl with a fuck-load of baggage.

But weren't we all? he thought, as they rounded the hidden drive into the batcave. Just a big dysfunctional family of barely held-together basket cases. It seemed fitting.

Robin settled her bike in it's parking space and hopped off, struggling to dislodge her cape from the pedal. Jason pulled it free, and she rewarded him with another one of her beaming smiles. He didn't smile back.

"Come on," she said. She reached for his hand. When he didn't take it, she took it herself, and dragged him firmly and deliberately across the cave, toward the lighted elevator.

She stopped halfway there. Jason stiffened. This was the moment--the moment when she realized that she'd gone too far, that she was letting a renegade into the manor. When she told him to leave, or when Bruce showed up to scowl and frighten her into shaking him off...

"I forgot," she said, turning to face him. She kept her hand in his, even though he tried to pull away. "I'm Stephanie. Stephanie Brown. Seems silly, us being brother and sister, but you not knowing my name. Let's go, I bet Alfred's prepared sandwiches and everything." She turned away again, and Jason found himself being swept after her, lost and bewildered and just the slightest bit pleased.

So maybe he'd never get the chance to beat the new Robin after all. Now, just for this moment, Jason wasn't sure he really wanted to.


End file.
